These three stories happened to three individuals: the incidents were featured in an early issue of THE ASINGANIAN which I published long time ago ( about 3 decades ). The Internet was then still in the drawing board.
During those days, I wanted to publish a newspaper ( or something similar ) which would feature news stories re: Asingan or Pangasinan for that matter ). When the Internet arrived and revolutionized our life and the way we exchange communication, then I found the best and the cheapest way to broadcast news and pictures to all our townmates around the world...
story 1- Rodolfo Necessito, an Asinganian now living in California wrote the following account about Rowel Darang of Rosales, Pangasinan.
On September 2, 1987, Rowel heard strange voices calling his name outside his home. But due to the presence of Drug dealers in his hometown, he was afraid to go out to check who was calling him.
The next morning Sept. 3, he went out and and found a 13-inch statuette of the Virgin Mary on his doorstep. He took possesion of this image when nobody else claimed ownership. From the time he took in the image, his life has completely changed.
You see, he started to see visions of the Virgen Mary and he went into trances almost everyday for the next 6 years. He became like the 3 famous children of Fatima or St. Bernadette of Lourdes, France. He received messages from Mary ( whom he called Mama Mary ) which are repetitions of her previous ones in Lourdes, Fatima and the other places where Mary's apparition had appeared. The message was to spread Universal Peace and Love.
He was ordered to construct a grotto in her honour where the faithful could go to worship. This shrine now stands in the middle of a ricefield donated by the Rapanot family of Rosales, Pangasinan. This family is non Catholic.
At first, people thought Rowel was crazy. Then many local residents started to see the apparition themselves in the rice field grotto. He came to the US in 1990 to spread Mary's message of Universal Love, the need for prayer and the return for family devotion to the Holy Rosary.
( the complete story of Rowel Darang, his travel to California and a mysterious photograph of him and the Virgin Mary could be read in the PANGASINAN NEWSLINE, December and January issue, written by Rodolfo Necessito, one of Asingan's long time writers now residing in San Francisco, California )
story no. 2-During the 70s, Block Rosary was a very popular devotion in Pangasinan. In Puzzorubio, a Block Rosary group came upon a home owned by a non Catholic who does not seem to believe in God.At first, the group was hesitant to bring the image of Our Lady of Fatima to her house.But the head of the Block Rosary group was strong willed and she asked the homeowner if the image could stay with her and her family just for one night.
"Okay", the woman said. "but I am telling you now that you are just wasting your time. We will not be doing anything about it."
When the group left, the woman brought the image to the ground floor of her housewhere the dirty and old stuff are usually kept.
After supper, the family just went to bed and forgot all about the image.
It was about midnight when the woman saw in a dream that a beautiful lady appeared standing beside her bed, smiling at her. At this point, she woke up abruptly but the memory of her dream persisted. THEN she smelled a strong fragrance of roses and she remembered the image left downstairs in the ground floor. She rushed down and she was struck with awe because she saw the image surrounded by a strange light. and that overwhelming fragrance of roses.
She fell on her knees. She wanted to scream but she was afraid her children might wake up and also her neighbours. Then the light dissapeared together with the fragrance of roses. She gently took the image in her arms, brought it up to her house and set it in a corner of her living room. Then she fell to her knees again and started reading the prayers in the book left by the Block Rosary devotees.
When the devotees came back the next day for the image, they found a different woman who said the farewell prayers with them together with her children. The following Sunday, she attended church for the first time with her children and eventually, she was converted into Catholicism.
story no. 3 - Medjugorhe is a small Craotian community in the Bosnia-Herzegovina area of the former Yugoslavian Republic. In here is a high mountain where Mary's apparition was seen and thus so many healings and conversions took place. At that time, there was a civil war going on and many people were killed. But this did not stop many pilgrims from going up the steep mountain via a dangerous trail. Many wanted to ask the Virgin Mary for personal favours or just hoping they could also see her apparition.
One of the pilgrims was an Asinganian lady. Sorry, I can not mention her name but she claims account is true. And I believe her. Anyways, she decided to go up the mountain and near the top, her foot slipped and she fell into a deep precipice. She was hospitalized because of some physical injuries but she survived the fall although the gorge was very deep and rocky.
During her accident, she claimed that SOMEONE caught her thus breaking her fall, thus saving her life. She felt the sensation of being caught but she saw NOBODY holding her.
oooOOOooo
These are precarious times, the age of miracles which happened in the past and still happening. There are signs all around us but we must not lose sight of the fact that everything, including natural disasters are in the Hands of God. Maybe, just maybe we should continue loving HARDER one another ( even that character in your life which you love to hate ) because after all, the Christian manifesto is TO LOVE YOUR ENEMIES.----#
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Pangasinan has its own Marian shrine visited by countless Pilgrims EVERYDAY of the week. Somehow, many claim that their prayers are being answered after visiting this church. Thus the popularity of this town whose name I think means TO CALL...
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